A New Face Among Many
by Ryn-chan
Summary: The Digidestined find someone better at computers than Izzy... And she's also Digidestined. Final Chapter (Chapter 10) up now. R+R.
1. A Few New Surprises

A New Face Among Many – Chapter 1: A Few New Surprises

A New Face Among Many – Chapter 1: A Few New Surprises

_Damn._ She was going to drop the box of figurines. It was just too heavy. _Oh, no..._

"Can I help?"

"What?" _Oh, damn. _The box slipped... and stopped. She blinked and looked up. Whoever her hero was, he was cute. "Thanks. Do you think you could get the door, too?"

"Gladly." Suiting action to words the young man opened the door and helped her carry the box inside her apartment. "I live next door. I'm pleased to meet you. My name's Ken Ichijouji."

"Reliana Alexander. I'm pleased to meet you, too."

"I don't mean to pry, but what is in the box?"

"My hobby." Opening the box she unwrapped the delicately carved figurine of a green baby dragon. "Dragons. I have a few other mythological figures, too, but it's mostly dragons."

Ken smiled. So did Reliana.

"You're looking a bit frazzled. How about you take a break? I was going to meet up with my friends for pizza. You could come too, if you want."

He was so gracious, so kind. How could she resist? "I'd love to, thanks."

She set the figurine gently on the mantle and grabbed her coat from the back of a nearby chair. "I can unpack later. Let's go meet your friends."

The two left the apartment leaving the small green dragon statuette standing sentry.

Engaging in small talk, the pair traversed the short walk to the nearby park and stopped next to a shaded picnic table seating three boys all seemingly engrossed in a free-for-all melee blood bath. There is a muffled jumble of not nice words as one of the players 'died' a horrible, horrible death... again.

"Reliana, meet my friends: Tai..." _Well, that hair should be recognizable at least, next. _"...Matt..." __A very attractive blonde, but not my type. "...And Izzy." _A red-haired computer geek. Perfect. _"Guys, this is Reliana."

Reliana smiled at each as he was introduced to her, then she noticed Izzy's computer. "Oh, wow! Is that a Sunsparc? With the special cache upgrade?"

Izzy just stared. So did everyone else.

"Yeah. The memory upgrade and a lot of hi-tech software. How you seen a digital modem before?" Izzy had regained enough composure to respond.

"I've got one, but it's not installed yet. I'm working with a Thunderbird processor that has an upgraded one meg cache right now."

"One meg?!?!"

The conversation continued in this vein until, by happenstance, Izzy shifted his seat slightly to allow Reliana a better view of the computer screen. Izzy's Digivice fell out of his pocket and Reliana picked it up.

"Oh, you have one of these, too?" Reliana handed Izzy back his Digivice and took her own out of her pocket. "Mine hasn't been much use as anything except a watch."

Violent sounds emanated from the computers, but no one was paying any attention, they were all staring at Reliana who was in the process of putting her Digivice back in her pocket.

"Anyway, as fun as this has been, if we don't hurry we'll be late meeting T.A., Kari and the others for pizza. Coming, Ken?"

Reliana started walking towards the pizza place that was located about four blocks down the street, leaving the others still staring after her in bafflement.

"I'll see how much I can learn, and call you later." Ken rushed to catch up to Reliana and the others stared at each other in astonishment not really knowing what to do.

Matt and Tai took a look at each other, then at Izzy's dazed expression, and smiled in unison.

"Well, Izzy?"

"Well, what?"

Matt just winked at Izzy and Tai smiled infuriatingly before they both turned their attention back to the game they had been playing.


	2. The Mouse Is In The House

A New Face Among Many – Chapter 2: The Mouse Is In The House

A New Face Among Many – Chapter 2:The Mouse Is In The House

_Wait a minute... _Izzy was sitting at his computer as usual, although all was not right in his domain. Some new lines of code were being introduced into his Unix server. "A hacker, but who, and why?" Never being one to turn down a challenge, Izzy decided to locate this person.

By tapping into the phone company's database it was Izzy's intention to find the general location of the net connection.

_Three hours and what have I found?_ Izzy was walking down a street checking and double-checking the address of the connection. He had just passed a public phone book when he decided to try a new track. Izzy took out his cell phone and dialed the phone number in the ISP and telephone companies' databases.

*_Ring_*

The sudden ringing of the pay phone behind Izzy startled him. Comparing the number of the phone against the number on his computer screen Izzy realized he had been had.

_Whoever this hacker is they're no fool._

***

"…It's happened too many times to be coincidence, Yolei. The pattern this person had developed indicates that one of those two phones will be used."

Izzy had tracked many different IP signatures and each one had led to different public phones. One was even out-of-order and had been visibly re-wired. A map posted on a bulletin board above Izzy's computer had assorted colors of thumbtacks pinned in a rough circular pattern around an apartment building. Ten locations in total. Another two areas had been circled in marker.

"Izzy. The rest of your friends are here."

"Thanks, mom."

Izzy had invited the younger Digidestined over to see if they could help him solve this problem. He had sent them an e-mail apprising them of the situation so he wouldn't have to explain it when they got to his home. Yolei had been the first to arrive, and Davis, TK and Kari filed into Izzy's room.

TK and Kari took a seat on Izzy's bed, while Davis stood beside Izzy and his computer. Yolei was on the other side of the room at Izzy's server console.

"What's the map for Izzy, and why is there a circle around Ken's apartment building?"

"Davis, do you know anyone besides Ken who lives in that building?"

"Gee, Izzy, I'm not sure…"

"What about the girl Ken introduced us to? Her name was Reliana, wasn't it?" TK pulled Kari closer, ignoring the black look he got from Davis.

"That's her, isn't it?" Davis was pointing to Izzy's laptop computer screen.

Each half of the monitor displayed a view from a phone booth. The girl in question was approaching one with a laptop in her hands.

"Just because she lives in that building don't it mean it's her." Kari's line of reasoning was sound, but no one was listening.

Izzy switched on a set of speakers and was listening intently to the sounds accompanying Reliana's movements.

***

Startled, Reliana turned to look behind her. For some reason she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.

***

Izzy was watching Reliana closely. Her hands were quick and sure over the keyboard and she moved with the grace of a soccer player.

"Izzy, I think you'd better take a look at this." Yolei had been watching another monitor on the other side of the room. Strange lines of code were inserting themselves through Izzy's Unix server and the results could plainly be seen on the server's monitor.

"What is it, Yolei?" Izzy turned just in time to see a mouse-like image appear on the server's monitor.

***

"Sorry, Izzy, but no one forbids the Mouse anything and gets away with it. Good thing I got KillSwich from Firewall before I left." Reliana inserted a disc into her laptop.

***

"NO!!!!!" Izzy dove for his cable modem with every intention of pulling the plug. Just as he reached the cable connecter the server monitor flickered and went black. The orange light that indicated hard drive activity went dark also.

"Too late, Izzy." Yolei had gone pale. This was the first time she had seen KillSwich in action and was surprised by the virus' effectiveness.

"I'll kill her." Izzy was in a rage. He had just enough time to glance at Reliana's image on his laptop screen before it too went black. "She will not get way with this."


	3. Blackmail And Why It Works

A New Face Among Many – Chapter 3: Blackmail And Why It Works

A New Face Among Many – Chapter 3: Blackmail And Why It Works

_I'm glad that's over. I just hope he doesn't find out who it was._ Reliana was back in her apartment making cookies. She always did that when she was nervous or anxious.

There was a knock at the door and Reliana near jumped out of her skin. She quickly put the cookies in the oven and set the timer. After smoothing down her hair and wiping flour off her face she opened the door. It was Izzy. Tai and Matt were behind him, perhaps for moral support.

Izzy could tell Reliana was afraid. She was pale and trying bravely to smile. She smelt like cookies, which was something Izzy didn't expect.

"Are you three coming in, or are you going to stand in the hall all day?"

The boys followed Reliana into her apartment and sat at the kitchen table. She had gotten them all something to drink when the timer dinged from in the kitchen. "You caught me at a bad time. I'm baking cookies. Do you trust my cooking skills enough to try them?"

Matt and Tai laughed. Izzy looked away almost guiltily.

"They smell good enough, Reliana. Of course we'll try some." Matt spoke for the three of them.

_Oh, God, he knows. He's trying to hide the fact, but he does know. What am I going to do?_ Her hands were shaking as she placed the cookies on a serving plate. She grabbed herself a drink from the fridge and waked back into the combination dining room and living room. She placed the plate of cookies on the table.

***

_Please, Izzy, you can't be having second thoughts about this._ But he was. She looked so sweet in her short t-shirt that was dusted with flour, the figure hugging jeans… _Get a grip! It's almost as if you had a crush on this girl! _

For those of you who don't know Izzy, it is very rare for him to become obsessed with anything other than newfangled technology. There is an exception, however, to every rule.

***

"Izzy, is something wrong?" Reliana had noticed Izzy's silence and was quite worried by it.

"Yeah, there is. I have a slight problem and I wanted to ask for your help in resolving it."

Matt and Tai were startled by Izzy's abrupt approach. They tried to fade into the background as much as possible, but they would reach forward for just one more of Reliana's home-made cookies every once and a while.

"What kind of problem, Izzy?"

Instead of replying, Izzy pulled his laptop from his backpack along with a large manila envelope. He passed Reliana the envelope and booted up his computer.

Reliana slowly opened the envelope and stared herself in the face. She blinked, and the image remained. These were pictures of her in a phone booth… with her laptop… Reliana looked up.

"In return for the program known as 'KillSwich' I will not take that evidence to the authorities, Mouse." Izzy was smug. 

_He's blackmailing me! And to think I had a crush on him! Of all the nerve, who does he think he is?_ Reliana's eyes hardened. She'd show him. "Izzy, did you hook you laptop into your server last night?"

The unrelated question caught Izzy off guard. "Yeah, why?"

Reliana didn't seem to be listening. She was staring at her watch. "Count to…" She looked directly at Izzy and smiled. Slowly. "Ten."

"Why?" Now it was Izzy's turn to be nervous. He couldn't quite figure out what was going on.

Almost without warning Izzy's laptop went dead. He tried rebooting. 

User root does not exist.

"Izzy, in return for every piece of hard evidence you have, I will return your missing files." 

Izzy was shocked. She beat him without even trying. He turned to Matt and Tai. Both were glancing back and forth from him to Reliana. _I'm never going to live this down._

"I'll see you in a few hours, Izzy. Matt, Tai, did you want to take some of those cookies home with you? I made lots."

The boys preceded Reliana to the door. Matt and Tai were a little awed by this slip of a girl who beat Izzy at his own game. Not many people were better than Izzy at computers.

Closing the door behind the boys Reliana gave a sigh of relief. For a minute there she thought things were going to get a mite testy. Anyway, the situation was resolved and hopefully Izzy would forgive her soon enough for her to make it up to him. I mean, who gets over a crush that quickly, anyway?


	4. When Trouble Become Second Nature

A New Face Among Many – Chapter 4: When Trouble Becomes Second Nature

A New Face Among Many – Chapter 4: When Trouble Becomes Second Nature

While she was waiting for Izzy to return Reliana made more cookies. She didn't quite know why she was nervous; after all she had resolved the situation. _Why do I feel so guilty?_

A bell dinged in the kitchen. The batch of cookies was finished.

_Calm down, Reliana. Think of some way to make him not so mad at you._ Reliana had decided to go after Izzy. Not an easy task considering their rocky start. _Show him the computer room. He'd like that, right?_

A knock on the door made Reliana almost jump out of her skin… again. It was Izzy and he was ten minutes early.

"Tai and Matt made me promise to bring them more cookies." Izzy couldn't take his eyes off Reliana. The setting sun was pouring through the open balcony door, and it shone on her hair making her seem more ethereal and beautiful.

Reliana smiled. Izzy had broken the tension. Perhaps that meant he wasn't too mad at her.

Reliana went into the kitchen, partly to package up some cookies for Matt and Tai, and partly to think. When she came back into the living room Reliana could see a disc and a manila envelope on the table. Izzy was over by the balcony door admiring her collection of sun-catchers and figurines.

"I'll just skim through the files from your hard drive." Reliana smiled. "I mean, you could have missed something."

Izzy looked startled. _She can do that?_ He followed her into what should have been the living room. It had been walled off using Chinese water silk screens. Izzy stopped in his tracks.

There was computer hardware everywhere. Monitors, wires, towers and desktops, mice… There was a stack of recordable CDs in one corner and shelves upon shelves of computer software.

"All this and you still felt it necessary to hack my Unix server? What were you after?" Izzy was just shy of hyperventilating. The sheer amount of technology crammed into this little room was making his head spin.

"Unix." Reliana was sitting at a computer in one corner of the room opposite the door. Images were flashing upon the monitor in front of her. "There is a certain way of hacking a server to obtain a copy of the original software… There must have been something different about your copy or the manner in which you tampered with it, but needless to say I couldn't get what I wanted." Reliana turned around to watch Izzy's reaction. "I'm sorry I blew away your server, but I tend to get angry when I'm frustrated about something."

"Sounds kind of like Tai." Izzy's comparison was found to be very funny by the girl across the room. "But KillSwich? Couldn't you fins a less permanent solution to the problem, like asking me for a copy?"

"Izzy, you _blackmailed_ me to try to get KillSwich. Couldn't you have more easily just asked for a copy?"

Izzy smiled. He was starting to like her. "Good point. So now what do we do?"

"Good question." Reliana laughed. It felt good to get along with him. "Take a look around, see if anything strikes your fancy."

Once Izzy had turned his attention to the shelves of computer gear Reliana turned back to the computer she was working on. She had found something interesting among Izzy's files. Something called a 'digiport'. Highlighting the program she pressed the 'enter' key and waited. Nothing happened.

Looking over her shoulder to see what Izzy was up to, Reliana noticed he was checking out the system properties and configuration of her newest prize. A gamer's computer with an AMD Athlon 1Ghz processor with a gig of SDRAMM[[1]][1]. Best motherboard, video card, network card, sound card, and modem. The part about it that pleased her the most was the 60 gig hard drive. Chuckling softly Reliana stood and walked over to stand behind Izzy. It really was no wonder he was fascinated with this computer. 

"Hey, Reliana does this have…" The rest of Izzy's sentence was muffled by Reliana's lips. He didn't remember initiating the kiss, but he was fairly sure she hadn't started it.

Izzy placed his hands on her hips, dragging her closer. Reliana responded by twining her arms around his neck. Both unconsciously deepened the kiss.

Izzy shifted his head to get a better kissing angle and Reliana decided to make herself taller. She scooted up against the table behind them, accidentally sitting on a computer keyboard.

Reliana's Digivice was touching the monitor when the digiport appeared on the screen. The overload of data cause by her sitting on the keyboard had two effects. First it opened the digiport, and second, it changed the destination co-ordinates.

Izzy stumbled forward as Reliana fell into the Digital World. His hand hit the keyboard, changing the destination co-ordinates again. The digiport closed.

Izzy was stunned. For a minute or two he couldn't figure out what had happened, then it hit him. Reliana was lost in the Digital World and she didn't have a digimon despite being a Digidestined. It was too late to call anyone in to help, they'd all be sleeping by now, and besides that, he really needed a cold shower.

_____________________

[1] Technology dated mid-2001.

  


[[1]][2] Technology dated mid-2001.

   [1]: #_ftn1
   [2]: #_ftnref1



	5. Solution To A New Problem

A New Face Among Many – Chapter 5: Solution To A New Problem

A New Face Among Many – Chapter 5: Solution To A New Problem

Reliana opened her eyes. Sometime during her kiss with Izzy she had closed them. Looking around she noticed that is was about mid-day. _What? How long was I out?_ Catching a sudden movement out of the corner of her eye, Reliana turned. What she saw caused her to close her eyes again. _No way could I have seen what I think I just saw. I must be dreaming._

Reliana counted to ten and opened her eyes again. Whatever it was, it was still coming. It looked to be a cross between a dragon and a serpent. It was about as tall as a panther, but it's neck was much longer, and it had wings. Small, but definitely there. 

Its rolling horse-like gait quickly brought it within five feet of Reliana. It stopped and brought its head eye-level with her own.

Reliana was scared and confused. It was just staring at her, not moving.

Unconsciously Reliana touched her Digivice. That was another of her nervous habits, she never even realized that she did it.

Her Digivice started glowing. The creature noticed and reacted.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?" 

_It can talk?_ Reliana did the only sensible thing a person in her situation would do. She fainted.

***

TK was with his brother Matt at a band rehearsal. The Teenage Wolves were in top form and didn't really need to practice. They played more for the love of their music than anything else.

Kari was cheering on her brother from the sidelines of a soccer game. Tai's team was winning and the game would soon be over. Sora had arrived sometime during the game and was sitting beside Kari helping to cheer Tai on.

Yolei was over at Cody's upgrading his computer while Upamon and Poromon looked on.

Ken was over at Davis' playing video games. Both were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

It was then that Izzy's e-mail reached them.

Reliana's apartment is directly beside Ken's. Get there as 

fast as you can. We have a serious problem in the Digital World and I will explain it when you get here.

Izzy.

The younger Digidestined made their way hastily to the aforementioned apartment leaving the elder group to their own devices. Sora was congratulating Tai on his win in a rather steamy manner in the backseat of her car. Matt remained with the members of his band, unable to concentrate for curiosity over Izzy's e-mail.

***

Reliana opened her eyes expecting to see the ceiling of her apartment, to see Izzy looking over her with a question in his eyes. The questioning eyes instead came from that thing, whatever it was.

"Reliana?" Its voice was female but deep and husky.

"How do you know me? What are you? Where am I?"

If the thing was surprised by her question, it didn't show it. "I know you, Reliana, because I have been waiting for you my whole life. This place is the Digital World, and it is inhabited by creatures called digimon. My name is Wyvernmon. I'm a rookie level digimon."

Reliana processed the information. "Wyvernmon, nice to meet you." Reliana looked around. Green tropical plants, pink sky… She went to brush dirt off her pants and stopped short. She was wearing a black mini-skirt and a green angora sweater. _What's going on? I don't own any clothes like this…_

Wyvernmon could tell that her human was close to an overload. Not really knowing what to do she started talking, telling Reliana about her life to date, about other digimon and about the Digidestined. Reliana wasn't really listening to the stream of chatter coming from the creature beside her. She was still trying to wrap her mind over the fact the _she_ was a Digidestined. Her mind kept going in circles and would she would wind up thinking about Izzy. _I wonder what his reaction was when I disappeared. He might not even know where to look for me, even if he wanted to. Having done what I did, I wouldn't really want to look for me either…_

Reliana started crying. Wyvernmon was even more at a loss for what to do. She had never really been around humans before. Wyvernmon wrapped her tail around Reliana's ankle and made a cat-like purring noise that, although strange for a dragon, made a perfect calming tool.

Reliana wasn't really listening to the stream of chatter coming from the creature beside her. She was still trying to wrap her mind over the fact the _she_ was a Digidestined. Her mind kept going in circles and would she would wind up thinking about Izzy. _I wonder what his reaction was when I disappeared. He might not even know where to look for me, even if he wanted to. Having done what I did, I wouldn't really want to look for me either…_

Reliana started crying. Wyvernmon was even more at a loss for what to do. She had never really been around humans before. Wyvernmon wrapped her tail around Reliana's ankle and made a cat-like purring noise that, although strange for a dragon, made a perfect calming tool.


	6. There Is Always Time To Be Afraid

Reliana and Wyrvenmon were backed into a corner

Reliana and Wyrvenmon were backed into a corner. The Viscamon had chased them to the bottom of a cliff face too sheer to climb. This was it, they couldn't run anymore. 

Wyrvenmon knew she had to do something, but she needed Reliana's help to digivolve. 

The Viscamon came around the bend in the path and spotted them. Wyrvenmon decided to stall it as long as she could. 

"Flame Jet!" 

Wyrvenmon's attack stopped the Viscamon in its tracks for a moment, but it kept coming. 

_What was it Wyrvenmon said about digivolving? That_ _it would increase her level of power? Maybe that digimon would go away if we showed enough strength. _"Wyrvenmon, digivolve!" Reliana held her Digivice in her hand and pointed it at Wyrvenmon. 

**Wyrvenmon digivolve to… Quirionmon**

Quirionmon was a larger more dragon-like creature with bigger wings and actual flight capability. Her body was the size of a minivan. Add her neck, head and tail, and she was about a long as a bus. She was also about fifteen feet tall. 

"Seal Of Fire!"

The attack call almost deafened Reliana. The Viscamon was surprised by Quirionmon's appearance and took the full force of Quirionmon's attack directly. It ran away with a severely injured pride. 

***

"I found her!"

The excited cry from the computer room had everyone on their feet and rushing into the room as fast as they could. 

"Bad news, though. " TK's voice was solemn. "There is no digiport anywhere near her. It would take us a week to get where she is, and by then, she'd be in a different location. "

"I wouldn't want to be the one to tell Izzy. " Yolei's voice was flat. It wasn't normal for her to lose her exuberance, but she was worried. 

"Tell me what?"

Izzy was standing in the doorway, looking at the mixture of surprise and discomfiture on the faces of the other Digidestined. 


	7. Foe Suspicion

A New Face Among Many – Chapter 7: Foe Suspicion

A New Face Among Many – Chapter 7: Foe Suspicion

Reliana stared wide-eyed as Quirionmon faded back into Wyrvenmon. 

"Are you ok, Reliana?" Wyrvenmon's question was hesitant. 

Reliana blinked, coming back to reality. "Of course I am. Why do you ask?"

"You didn't want me to digivolve before. You thought you couldn't handle it mentally…"

Wyrvenmon still had more to say but Reliana stopped her. "Wyrvenmon, I'm ok. If any of your other forms are as cool as that last one… How come you couldn't tell me what you digivolved into?"

"We don't know until we try. There aren't many champion level digimon because it takes a lot of energy to digivolve and net every digimon who tries, succeeds. " Wyrvenmon stopped to catch her breath. It's not common knowledge, but dragons are notorious gossips.

Reliana halted the chatter of her newfound friend with a generous dose of scratching behind the ears. (A place not easily reached by the dragon.)

Reliana and her digimon sat back against the cliff face, sunbathing.

***

Izzy took stock of the situation in a relatively short amount of time. "I take it, TK, that the flashing green dot is her. What I don't understand is why you're still sitting here talking about it."

Apparently sleep hadn't improved Izzy's temper any.

"Izzy, all the digiports in her area are destroyed. Either by natural disasters, digimon, or us. It would take us a week to get to her, and by then, she'd have gone somewhere else." TK explained the situation as they knew it. With Izzy up and mentally awake, it wouldn't be long before the problem was resolved.

***

The sound of buzzing woke Wyrvenmon from a light doze. She took a glance around and saw nothing. Turning to Reliana for advice, Wyrvenmon noticed that her human was sound asleep. Being chased by the Viscamon had obviously been too much for Reliana.

The buzzing got louder. Wyrvenmon took another look at the densely packed trees. Some bug-like thing was flitting among the branches, muttering to itself.

Reliana woke to the sound of hissing. Looking around she noticed Wyrvenmon staring intently at the surrounding forest.

Wyrvenmon's tail was thrashing about violently, tossing small stones around. She was making quite a ruckus.

Standing slowly so Wyrvenmon wouldn't be startled, Reliana looked in the same direction her digimon was. Some beetle-looking digimon was sitting in the branches of a tall tree just watching them.

"Wyrvenmon, what kind of digimon is that?"

***

"What do the red dots mean, Izzy?" 

"Red stands for rookie level digimon. Why?"

"Well… there are two red dots. One is right beside Reliana, and I think it would be safe to say that that is her digimon. The other… is just sitting there."

"TK, move over for a second."

TK vacated the swivel chair he had been using. Izzy sat down and started typing.

"Just as I thought. That's Tentomon's territory. If my guess is correct, all we have to do is go to the digital world and he'll bring her to us." _There. Problem solved. Maybe now Reliana and I can get back on track. _

Izzy had come to the conclusion that Reliana would be good for him. She challenged him (and won), and he liked her. He didn't know how he'd manage it, but he thought that sounded like a good start.

***

Reliana was trying to talk Wyrvenmon down. She also wanted to know what manner of digimon that beetle was.

"I am Tentomon. I saw you being chased by the Viscamon and wanted to see if you were alright."

Wyrvenmon was startled enough to quiet. Reliana was curious. "You've been around humans before?"

"Yes. My Digidestined's name is Izzy. Do you know him?"

_I'd forgotten about the Digivice. Izzy dropped his that first day. I should have realized he'd have a digimon, too._

Reliana was visiblely debating with herself over what to do. Wyrvenmon was trying to stare Tentomon down.


	8. Parting Is Sweet Sorrow

A New Face Among Many – Chapter 8: Parting Is Sweet Sorrow

A New Face Among Many – Chapter 8: Parting Is Sweet Sorrow

Also not common knowledge is the short attention spans of young dragons. Wyrvenmon gave up staring at Tentomon after a few minutes. She curled her tail around Reliana's ankles, rested her head on her claws and went to sleep.

Reliana lost her train of thought when Wyrvenmon wrapped her tail around her ankle.

Tentomon held back his laughter.

***

"Izzy, why do you want to find Reliana so badly? She destroyed your Unix server and she blackmailed you. What, besides computers, do you two have in common?" Yolei was insanely curious. She also was feeling protective. She was fond of Izzy and didn't was to see him her. Just watching him watch his Unix server flush itself down the toilet had hurt.

"I'm not going to get into that. She apologized and explained her reasons for what she did. I am more than willing to forgive and forget." Izzy began typing again as the other Digidestined tried to recover from their shock. "All set. Are you guys ready to go?"

***

"Ok. If I've got this right, the nearest digiport is a week's hike away." Tentomon nodded. "Fine. Any reasons why we shouldn't go and wait for the others?" Reliana was on an emotional high. She was going home.

"That Viscamon could come after us again." Wyrvenmon was pessimistic. She didn't understand how Reliana could want to leave the Digital World after taking such a long time to get there.

"You can digivolve to counter that, Wyrvenmon. Where is you optimism? I'm going to be able to show you my home." Wyrvenmon's reluctance was bothering Reliana and it showed.

***

Calling their parents on Reliana's cell phone (the only phone in the apartment), the Digidestined made their excuses. Those not using the phone raided Reliana's fridge, stocking food for the trip ahead.

"Ready?" Yolei's question was met with nods from all the other Digidestined. "Ok, Digiport open!" Yolei held her D3 up to the computer monitor. The digiport opened and the Digidestined proceeded to enter the Digital World.

***

"We're going in circles." Reliana sank to her knees. This was the third time her, Wyrvenmon and Tentomon had come back to the cliff-face clearing where they had met. "What is going on?"

""It is almost like something is keeping us here." Wyrvenmon was nervous. She was ripping small furrows in the ground with her talons, and her tail was twitching.

"Who even knows we're here?"

"Obviously someone does, Reliana. This wouldn't be happening otherwise…" Wyrvenmon's voice trailed off. She was staring at Reliana's Digivice, which, at that moment, started beeping.

"What now?" Reliana sighed. _What on earth could be going wrong now?_

***

"What the…?" Yolei's Digivice was glowing. After a minute it stopped and went dark. While checking her D-Terminal for probable causes, Yolei noticed something very strange. "What the…?"

"What is it Yolei?"

"I don't know, Kari. For some reason, my Digi-egg of Sincerity is gone!"

"What?" The Digidestined, with the exception of Yolei and the inclusion of Izzy, spoke in unison. They had never heard of something like this ever happening before.

***

"Was that cave there before?" Tentomon's voice had a haughty sound to it. He knew they hadn't been going in circles. Here was proof.

Reliana took her Digivice off her mini-skirt belt-loop. "There's a map here. There is something in the cave that activated my Digivice. I wonder what it is."

Wyrvenmon approached the cave cautiously. Reliana and Tentomon followed her through the entry.

"It's some sort of temple." Reliana noticed some strange-looking symbols on the walls. It almost looked like programming code. _I'll have to study them later…_ Reliana's attention was drawn from the writing to a stone slab protruding from the far wall. On it sat an egg-like object that looked like a mini replica of the sword in the stone with a green teardrop painted on it. Curiously drawn to it, Reliana walked forward and touched it.

That's when it happened.

When Reliana touched the egg her Digivice glowed so bright the light filled the entire cave. When the glow faded and died Reliana was standing with the egg in her hands. What surprised her the most, however, was her Digivice. It had transformed into what we know as D3s. It was purple in color with white detail.

"What does this do?" Reliana's voice was soft. She was staring at the Digi-egg.

"It is the Digi-egg of Sincerity, and will allow Wyrvenmon to Armor Digivolve." Tentomon's voice broke the quiet and Reliana's trace-like state.

Wyrvenmon added her two cents worth to the conversation. "All you have to do is say 'Digi-Armor Energize!', and I'll get to digivolve again."

The Digi-egg of Sincerity glowed and dissolved. An arc of energy flowed from the glow and was absorbed into what looked to be a palm pilot type of device.

"I guess that answers my question of where I keep it, but what happens next?"


	9. 

A New Face Among Many – Chapter 9: Babies, Soccer, And Trouble

A New Face Among Many – Chapter 9: Babies, Soccer, And Trouble

During the commotion following the disappearance of Yolei's digi-egg the glow of Cody's Digivice went unnoticed.

Having come to the conclusion that investigations could wait until later, the Digidestined were ready to proceed. 

"What way to we go, Izzy?" Kari was eager to get the mission done. She had a date with TK.

"Tentomon is leading Reliana to the digiport beside Primary Village. We can be there in two days. Shall we go?"

***

"That's strange." Tentomon was confused. With him being Izzy's digimon that's not an often seen phenomenon. "We've covered ground in one hour what should have taken us a day."

"Didn't you say that there was a flux in time a year or so ago? Could that be what this is?" Reliana had been filled in on Digimon/Digidestined history over the past hour. Wyrvenmon had done most of the talking while Tentomon had filled in more details, having been a participant in the whole adventure. They had just covered the Digidestined battle with Apocalomon when Tentomon had made his observation on the time.

"I doubt it, Reliana. There hasn't been much excitement in the DigiWorld lately. The other Digidestined have been busy destroying Arukinimon's Control Spires, and no new threat has shown itself." Wyrvenmon mulled over her own words. She decided to correct herself. "You could be right, though. It has been too quiet lately."

"Let's worry about that later. It could just be a weird coincidence. Tell me more about Primary Village." Reliana was excited about the prospect of meeting baby digimon. It would be quite a unique experience to tell her sister about.

"Well…" Needing no further encouragement Wyrvenmon began chattering again, her voice and stories making the trip less tedious and, somehow, almost seemed to make the miles go faster.

***

"Hold-up guys. I just got an e-mail from Gennai." Izzy had been monitoring Reliana's progress on his computer and he kept thinking of cookies. It was making him hungry, and not for food.

"What does it say, Izzy?" Ken had been the most quiet of the group. He had been trying to figure out the reason behind the disappearance of Yolei's Digi-egg. The others would have to call his name three or four times to get his attention, he would be so lost in his thoughts.

"It says…" Izzy blinked and re-read the message. "It says that there are new Digidestined. The Digi-egg of Sincerity is being given to one of them." Izzy looked up. "I think we can tell who got the Digi-egg of Sincerity."

"What do we do now, then?" Cody was feeling an odd sense of foreboding. Something was going to happen. Something bad. Sometime soon.

***

"These baby digimon are so _adorable_!!" Reliana had been exclaiming over Electmon's baby digimon for almost an hour. For some reason she couldn't get over how cute they were.

"It's good that you are here. It has been very hard for me to entertain them ever since Davis taught them to play soccer."

"They play soccer?" Reliana was shocked. These tiny creatures didn't look strong enough to play soccer. 

"This I have to see." Wyrvenmon didn't believe that these little things could play, either. Her irritation was based, in part, on jealousy. It was bad enough when she'd had to share Reliana's attention with Tentomon, but she could deal with that. She knew human social structure now (thanks to Reliana), and understood that her human liked Tentomon's human in a very serious way. However, now there were almost a hundred cute baby digimon to demand Reliana's attention.

***

"What's going on?!" Davis was confused. Not an uncommon occurrence, but with someone like Izzy explaining the situation it was almost a given.

"I'm not exactly sure. Time seems to be sped up, but there has been no change in the sun's position. I can't really explain it better than that. I haven't figured out any probable causes, but I'm sure it's something big."

"I think we're closer to Primary Village than we thought. Listen." Yolei had been the first to notice the laughter. The others strained to hear and caught the sound, too.

Ken had been examining the map on Izzy's computer screen. Something didn't seem right about it. "Izzy, I think I know what happened."

"What, Ken?"

"Reliana. She used KillSwitch on your server, and consequently you laptop. I think the virus messed up you maps."

"Could be, but if…" Izzy went pale. _If I brought KillSwich into the DigiWorld through my laptop, who knows what could happen. Whatever form that virus takes, it will be nearly impossible to beat._ "I think we have a problem. We need to find these new Digidestined quickly. We'll start with Reliana and go from there."

Even though Izzy didn't explain, the other Digidestined could tell from the look on his face that they were in very big trouble. Solemnly, the group headed for the sound of Reliana's and the baby digimon's laughter. Breaking the bad news would be very hard, but it would have to be done to avert the dangers asserting themselves in the Digital World.


	10. 

A New Face Among Many – Chapter 10: Bad News Manifested

A New Face Among Many – Chapter 10: Bad News Manifested

Reliana had been showing off her soccer skill to the baby digimon for almost an hour, and she didn't show any signs of tiring.The babies all agreed that she was a much better soccer player than Davis.

Sensing that her audience had increased, Reliana let the soccer ball drop to the ground.Turning she noticed Izzy, with his friends in tow, entering Primary Village.Calling Wyrvenmon to her, Reliana approached the group.

"Thank you for coming to find me." Reliana had watched the reaction on the faces of the Digidestined before her.With the exception of Ken, they were noticeably shocked by her politeness.Izzy, she noticed, was staring at her rather intently. "Is there something wrong, Izzy?"

"Can I speak with you in private?" _I might as well be the one to break the bad news to her.Besides, she could know a solution._

"Sure."

The pair walked off towards a secluded section of Primary Village.No one was really sure when they clasped hands, but holding hands they were.

***

Turning a corner, Reliana looked around._Good.The others can't see us here._That's when she made her move.

Izzy had just turned to face Reliana when their lips met.He was caught off guard and off balance.His knees buckled and the two fell to the ground.That didn't stop Reliana kissing him, though.If anything she kissed him deeper, longer.Izzy was not complaining.

After a few minutes they came up for air.Reliana smiled as she watched the expression on Izzy's face.She loved his eyes.They were so expressive.

When Reliana made to kiss him again, Izzy stopped her.He caught the flash of hurt in her eyes as she pulled herself up.Before he lost his nerve as well as his control, Izzy told her about the virus.Her face went blank.

When Reliana finally reacted it wasn't what Izzy expected.She started to cry.

_This is all my fault! If I hadn't gotten greedy for that stupid program… If I'd never been given KillSwitch in the fist place, this would never have happened._Reliana could tell Izzy didn't blame her, but she knew she was the cause.This beautiful world was a risk because of her selfishness.

Izzy reached out to comfort Reliana.He was very surprised when she recoiled.

Reliana stumbled to her feet.She needed to think.Without looking back, she ran.

***

Wyrvenmon could tell something was wrong.When Izzy came into sight he was alone.Looking around for Reliana, Wyrvenmon couldn't see her.

"Wyrvenmon, I don't know where Reliana's gone, but she is very upset." Izzy was feeling dejected.He could tell that Reliana was feeling guilty, but he couldn't understand why she would let him help her.As Digidestined they were in this together, regardless of who started it._Maybe she just needs time to see._

***

Reliana came to a halt in a partial clearing in the woods.Her tears had dried during the first few minutes of her flight._Now what?_ Reliana was desperately trying to come up with a solution.So far she only thing she could think of was the programmer, Firewall.An illustrious computer hacker who's reputation was second only to her own.

Reliana had just turned to head back to Primary Village when that palm pilot device started beeping. It actually looked more like the control paddle for a Sega Dreamcast entertainment system than a palm pilot. What caused the beeping was an e-mail. One from each of the other Digidestined. The one from Yolei was light-hearted and comical, comparing their current problem to ones Yolei had inadvertently caused in her own life. The one from Cody was sweet and sincere. The ones from TK and Kari were similar. It was quite amazing how the two thought so much alike. The one from Davis was... Well, we'll won't get into that.

It was Ken's e-mail that broke past the guilt. He was sympathetic to what she was going through because he had. _Ken was the Digimon Emperor Wyrvenmon told me about? How is that possible? Hehas such a sweet nature._

Clipping the D-Terminal back to the belt of her skirt, Reliana started the trip back to Primary Village.

***

The Digidestined were sitting at a picnic when Reliana found them. Moving silently, Reliana approached the group. Davis and Izzy were the only ones with their back to her. Each of the others had looked up and seen her, but she motioned for them to be silent. She dropped her hand on Izzy's shoulder. He jumped. Reliana, and the Digidestined in on the prank, burst out laughing.

Reliana knelt down next to Izzy. If she noticed that the contents of her fridge had been transformed into the buffet-style lunch before her, she didn't say anything.

***

The black shadow flitted among the trees, herding the baby Botamon deeper into the forest. _Let them laugh. The time will come when I am strong enough. Until then, I will wait and gather my strength. In time, I will be force to be reckoned with._


End file.
